Last week NESTA, the innovation agency, published a new report into the demand for - and use of - hyperlocal media. Written by Kantar Media, the report is based on a survey of 2,248 people and offers a valuable evidence  base into what hyperlocal media UK audiences consume and how they consume it.

Writing on the NESTA blog Mark Pearson  “Overall our research shows that hyperlocal media users are generally interested in consuming functional information including local weather and local breaking news, and do so from a range of sources. The most commonly used of these are search engines, the app or website of local authorities and the app or website of local newspapers or magazines.”

NESTA have also been long interested in the role of mobile as a potential means to creating new and sustainable business models for the sector, with Pearson adding: “We also find that the take-up of connected devices such as tablets and smartphones has been a driver behind the increased use of hyperlocal media.”  [Read the  and this excellent shorter summary.]

I mentioned recently that issues relating to the impact of the current Leveson implementation proposals on ‘smaller bloggers’ are starting to be considered.  Recently there have been some consultation meetings held, separately by DCMS and Hacked Off to explore this topic.

Writing about this on the , Will Perrin notes:  “It was all done at very short notice and in London which is unsatisfactory but reflects the reality of the bizarre Leveson process.”

He goes on to add: “Much of the discussion was about who was a relevant publisher and their relationship to new regulatory schemes.”

Read more on his account of the meetings and contribute your views .

 

I do love these summaries at the top of articles on paidContent, they sum up pieces better than I ever could. So I won’t even try.

SUMMARY: The U.S. newspaper industry has lost more than $40 billion in ad revenue in the past decade — over half of that in the last four years alone — and Google’s ad revenues are now more than twice what the industry pulls in.

Here’s the charts in question:

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